Trials set for terror suspects over church blast in Medan

Trials set for terror suspects over church blast in Medan

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

A court here said on Thursday the trials of suspected Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) members charged with bombing three churches in the
North Sumatra capital of Medan in 2000 would begin next week.

Medan District Court spokesman Binsar Gultom said the trials
had been scheduled to start on Thursday but were postponed until
Feb. 26.

He said the postponement was forced because the court was
hearing other cases on Thursday.

Binsar said the suspected bombers included Awaluddin Sitorus,
alias Abu Yasar, Indra Warman, alias Toni Togar, Hambali, Faiz
Bin Abu Bakar Bafana and Imam Samudra.

Two other suspects in the bombings, Jabir and Nasrullah, are
still at large.

Hambali, the alleged JI leader, is being detained by the
United States and Samudra has been sentenced to death for the
October 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, while Faiz is
being held in Malaysia.

Hambali was arrested in Thailand and handed over to the U.S.,
and Indonesian police are still waiting to interrogate the
suspect.

Binsar stressed that the trials would begin on Feb. 26 and
that the court hoped to present all of the suspects charged with
planning the bombings of the three churches on May 28, 2000.

Prosecutors say Hambali and Samudra arrived in Medan in March
2000, two months before the bombings, and stayed overnight at the
Ibunda Hotel on Jl. Sisingamangaraja in Medan.

In Medan, Hambali and Samudra planned the bombings with the
other defendants, they said.

The explosion at the GKPI Church in the Padang Bulan complex
left numerous people injured.

Binsar, who will be one of the judges hearing the case against
the defendants, acknowledged it would be difficult for the court
to present all of the defendants given that some were being
detained outside of Medan.

However, he said the court would insist on summoning all of
the defendants.

"All of the defendants must attend the trial at the Medan
District Court because they all planned the blasts at the three
churches," Binsar said.